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Time
for 'Home-grown' Coach
Accra, Jul 12, Ghanadot/GNA - Coaching remains an integral
part of the development of football as a sport in every
country and the discovery of the many talents seen in Ghana
now were unearthed by local bred coaches.
The development of the game in Ghana started many years ago
and during those tender ages in our football development
many of the teams were managed by local coaches who have
over the years toiled and helped in its growth.
Therefore, the argument is; if our own coaches were able to
manage our teams back in the days where the standards of the
sport was low, how much more now that coaches have made
tremendous strides in the development of the game through
learning and undertaking of courses.
Even though many of the coaches need to upgrade themselves
to compete at the big state, some of them have been through
the mill and can equally compete at any level.
With the advent of 'professional football', players and
coaches all over the world have learnt more by making the
game more complex with several tactical dispositions.
Despite the complexity of the rules of the game, the style
of certain group of countries can easily be noticed.
European football is seen to be pacey, and a typical
European player is not skilful except for players from
Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, and to some extent
France.
The South Americans are known for their skills, flair and
speed whilst African football is about skills, flair and
physique with the Asians known for their sheer speed and
counter-attacks.
The 'Selecao' of Brazil under Coach Luis Felipe Scolari had
to be counselled to play like Brazilians rather than
Europeans.
For Africa, however, the introduction of expatriate coaches,
mainly from Europe has done nothing but change 'our style of
play' thereby retarding the development of the game on the
continent.
The 'Elephants' of Cote d'Ivoire are considered by the
connoisseurs of the game to be one of the best African teams
because almost all their players play at the top level. They
are solid in every department; be it in defense, midfield or
attack - but suffered a group stage exit during the 2006
World Cup in Germany - simply because they decided to play
like the Europeans.
The Black Stars of Ghana made an impact during the 2006
World Cup because the team played as Ghanaians. For the
first time since 1992, the Black Stars were seen playing
their own game; good inter-positional passes with individual
skills and flair, they were strong with good ball control,
excellent team play, and they played with great telepathy
and fluency. The team was reminiscent of the days of the
Abedi Pele's and Tony Yeboah's, and the 'Multi-System' play
of the Olympic team in Barcelona in 1992.
The writer Isaac Kwesi Mintah, an Intern with the GNA Sports
considers that - "as a football loving nation that we have
to be our self by playing our style of game, and this can be
better achieved by our own coaches because they know the
physche of the our players and better understand our style
of play".
Which expatriate coach knows more about the likes of Michael
Essien, Sulley Muntari, Asamoah Gyan, Stephen Appiah and
John Mensah better than the Sellas Tetteh's, the Jones
Atuquayefio's, the Kwesi Afrani's and Sam Adday. Other
coaches such as Oti Akenten, Herbert Addo, Abdul Razak,
Bashiru Hayford, Mohammed Polo and the good-old Osam Duodo
can all handle our national teams.
The question also is "Why don't we believe in our own
coaches." After all most of the trophies won by Ghana at any
of the levels whether at the club or national events were
won by our local coaches. C K Gyamfi won the African Cup of
Nations in 1963, 1965 and 1982. In the year 2000, when
Attuquayefio won the African Champions League with Accra
Hearts of Oak, he competed against expatriate coaches but he
beat them with his local tactics and finally won the
ultimate trophy.
Similarly in 2005, coach Attuquayefio again won the CAF Cup
with Hearts against another Ghanaian side, Kumasi Asante
Kotoko, which was then handled by a German, Hans Smith. At
that time, Kotoko was in pole position of clinching the
trophy, but coach Smith made some woeful tactical blunders
that denied the "Porcupine Warriors" from winning the final
match. Attuquayefio knew his players and the terrain very
well and won the battle with his tactics against the German.
A lot of questions have been raised about the capabilities
of local coaches on the African continent. Most soccer fans
would never forget the 1992 Nations Cup held in Senegal when
Cote d'Voire's little known national team coach, Yeo Martial
beat an army of loud talking expatriates to the trophy by
defeating Ghana in the most spectacular spot kicks ever
witnessed in the tournament's history.
Apart from Welshman Michael Smith, who won the Nations Cup
with Egypt in 1986, The 'Pharoahs' have ensured that they
won the rest of the Nations Cup with local coaches for the
fifth time.
And it comes to mind that Hassan Shehata of Egypt has
equalled the feat of Ghana's C. K. Gyamfi as the only local
coaches to have won the trophy back to back with Gyamfi
making it in 1963 and 1965 while Shehata made it in 2006 and
2008.
If expatriate coaching is anything to go by, then we must as
well go in for expatriate players to play for Ghana. We need
to set standards for our players to respect our local
coaches. The 'big boys' now in Ghana football were
discovered, trained and groomed by our own local coaches. It
is therefore appropriate that if the local coaches were able
to discover and develop such talents, why can't they
continue to handle them - now that they (players) have
matured to international standards and need training to
developing their ball control, tactics, skills and general
work rate.
I see no reason why a professional footballer would disobey
his coach simply because he earns more than his coach and
disrespect him because he is a local one. We need a total
change of mind about our own local coaches and this must
start from the top (the FA) to the many Ghanaian football
fans. We have more than enough competent coaches - we need
to believe in them, treat them well and give them the free
hands to operate and to get the necessary training
confidence.
Coach Afranie among others was recently a recipient of a
National Awards for his enormous contribution to the
development of the game. It is worth noting that Black
Stars' John Pantsil bought coach Afranie a car as a show of
appreciation for making him what he is today. Have we so
soon forgotten how the coach guided the U-20 team in 2001 to
the finals? He is now the Head Coach of the National U-17
team and has developed many talents, guiding the team to win
its first silver wear in a Four-Nation tournament in Cote
d'Voire. No wonder he is touted as the 'Coach Hene.'
To add to a critical assessment of Coach Sellas Tetteh who
has helped to produce and develop many of the talents at
Liberty Professionals and proving to be a good coach at the
national level as well. He took the 2007 U-17 team from
'good old' Osam Duodo about three months to the World
championship in Korea. He reshuffled the team to get to the
semis. His stop-gap guidance of the Black Stars during the
joint 2010 Africa and World Cup qualifiers proves his worth
and mettle.
Added to his credit is
his handling of the current U-20 team, which is a 'bullet'
of a team, thrashing their Angolan counterparts 5-1 in their
first leg.
The question to ask now is to what level should our own
coaches get to before we realise that they can manage our
teams? I still find it extremely difficult to understand why
this is happening to only to our coaches. Are we perfect in
all aspects of our sports development? What about the FA?
Take a look at the irregularities in our Premier League
fixtures. At a point the league was brought to a halt for
almost a whole season. At this stage of our professional
football, there are not even cameras at some the venues to
cover the events. Why don't we go in for expatriate
administrators from England, Spain or Italy to manage our
football for us if we have such a phobia? Let's give our
local coaches the chance - they have come of age.
GNA
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